Nine Dead, Two Missing in France Avalanche

CHAMONIX, France (AP) - A climber trying to scale Mont Blanc mayaccidentally have caused a slab of ice to snap off Thursday high inthe French Alps, sparking an avalanche that swept nine Europeanclimbers to their deaths, authorities said. A dozen climbers wereinjured and two were still missing by nightfall.

As a sheet of snow and ice thundered down the steep slope,several other climbers managed to turn away from the slide in time,regional authorities in Haute-Savoie said.

Two climbers were rescued as emergency crews using dogs andhelicopters scoured the churned-up, high-altitude area in a franticsearch for the missing. Their quest, hampered by the possibility offurther avalanches, was called off by nighttime.

Three Britons, three Germans, two Spaniards and one Swissclimber were known to have died, the prefecture of the Haute-Savoieregion said.

The dead included the former general secretary of the BritishMountaineering Council, Roger Payne, the council said on itswebsite. Current BMC head Dave Turnbull praised Payne as one ofBritain's most notable climbers with expeditions from the Alps tothe Himalayas.

An initial report of four missing was lowered to two, andofficials noted the numbers of those involved in the drama couldvary because some climbers may have struck out on their own. Agroup of 28 were known to have left a mountain refuge for theascent.

Close to 90 people were involved in the search.

Among the dozen injured was an American, the only knownnon-European. A seriously injured Swiss citizen was transported toa Swiss hospital.

Early summer storms apparently left behind heavy snow thatcombined with high winds to form dangerous overhanging conditionson some of the popular climbing routes around Mont Blanc, thehighest mountain in western Europe. Regional authorities had warned climbers earlier this summer to be careful because of an unusually snowy spring.

The Mont Blanc massif is a popular area for climbers, hikers andtourists but a dangerous one, with dozens dying on it each year.Chamonix, a top center for climbing, hosted the first WinterOlympics in 1924.

Some of the climbers were with professional guides, others wereclimbing independently.

Police said they were alerted around 5:25 a.m. Thursday to theavalanche, which hit a group of climbers - people from Switzerland,Germany, Spain, France, Denmark and Serbia - who were some 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) high on the north face of Mont Maudit, part of the Mont Blanc range.

A block of ice 40 centimeters (16 inches) thick broke off andslid down the slope, creating a mass of snow that was 2 meters (6feet) deep and 100 meters (328 feet) long, according to a statementby the prefecture.

"The first elements that we have from testimony are that aclimber could have set loose a sheet of ice, and that sheet thenpulled down the group of climbers below. I should say the inclinewas very, very steep on this northern face," Col. BertrandFranEcois of the Haute-Savoie police told reporters.

It was not immediately known if the climber lived or died.

According to recent tweets from climbers, high winds led tooverhanging ice slabs forming on the slope. Several days agoChamonix saw a monsoon-like downpour which turned to snow at 3,000 meters (9,850 feet) high.

Jonas Moestrup from the western Danish city of Randers heardabout the accident as he was on his way down from Mont Blanc.

"Three days ago, we ascended it (Mont Maudit). It was shockingto hear, it could easily have been us," he told the Danish newsagency Ritzau by telephone. "It is scary and tragic."

Still, he noted the allure of those foreboding, majestic Alpinepeaks.

"It's part of the thrill that something can go wrong," he toldRitzau.

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls flew over the site laterThursday, describing it as "a particularly spectacular block ofice." He said the climbers appeared to be an experienced group,and that the churned-up snow had made the search particularlydifficult.

French investigators will examine the circumstances of thedeaths.

Copyright 2015 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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